Sorry, dumb question, I know, but having read that these engines suffer gummed up piston rings I tempted to look at some of the old cures for clearing carbon of a last ditch before selling. The petrol engine has just gone over 200,000km, runs well, no leaks, but I'm adding a litre oil every two or three of tanks of fuel now and hate to think what it smells like for anyone following. Added to that, I'm having to top up the coolant once a month (~2000km) as well, so guessing head gasket on its way? Time to throw in the towel?

 

Don't think there are any magical cures, it seems to be a trait of that engine as well as a very good power delivery.

4 hours ago, SteveP2020 said:

Sorry, dumb question, I know, but having read that these engines suffer gummed up piston rings I tempted to look at some of the old cures for clearing carbon of a last ditch before selling.

 

 

 

I've never tried this on the 1.8tsi but back in the day one trick I used on old oil burners was removing spark plugs and squirting a good slug of Plusgas into every bore and leaving overnight. Followed by squirting a bit of oil  into each bore the nextday, turning over a few times & not starting and then changing the oil. Certainly worked on Ford pre crossflow engines that were prone to oil scraper ring gumming/oil burning. 

 

 

You're talking my language! MG B-Series engines in my case. This engine still feels strong and I don't notice smoke in the rearview mirror but it's a lot of oil to be burning. I guess 200,000km is just a few too many and I can't expect anything much different.